2011-04-12

ficnotes: tissue of silver

Harry Potter/Draco Malfoy slash is actually where I was (re)introduced to the world of fan-created fiction, when Hanna shared the saga of Underwater Light with me (now no longer available online, though you can read about it over at Fanlore.org). It was Underwater Light that convinced me that fan fiction was a genre worth paying attention to, not only as a "guilty pleasure" but as a literary endeavor that could actually sometimes be more skillful than the original creation to which it owed inspiration.

Tissue of Silver isn't Underwater Light though its characterization of both Harry and Draco owe a lot to UL author Maya. However, it's easily the most entertaining Harry/Draco fic I've read in a while. The downside is its lack of explicit sex (c'mon, you know that's a huge reason we're reading this stuff); the upside is the care with which author Fearless Diva constructs her post-series world, and the characters within it who have been given a depth that, really, Rowling never managed (I'm serious).

I'm not going to say a whole lot more about this, so as not to spoiler things. The basic set-up is this: in a post-series, post-war world Draco Malfoy (who served as a spy for the anti-Death Eater side) is testifying at a series of Death Eater trials. He is also flamingly gay and very Peter Wimsey in his affected non-chalance. When threats are made against his life, (ostensibly)straight tabloid sensation Harry Potter ("Super Auror") is assigned to keep him safe. Shenanigans ensue.

There are also letters to and from Draco to his godfather Severus Snape which are hilarious, and have I mentioned Remus and Sirius make cameo appearances as Harry's godfather and godfather-in-law?

You have to find a way to inhabit your body while enacting your deepest desires. You have to be brave enough to build the intimacy you deserve. You have to take off all of your clothes and say, I’m right here.

"Because the point is logically moot, as I'm never having it off with anyone else ever again. I'm not straight, I'm not gay, I'm with you. How do I get it through that skull of yours? I'm...John-sexual. Oh, bloody hell, you're mine, you said I could have you, you did. You promised."

"Never will I take for granted in this world your generosity of exploration, how you have listened to my body and found what you could do." ~ Joan Nestle, "Our Gift of Touch," in A Fragile Union (144).